minidates otv-agile2012-final hr

AGILE & LEAN STARTUP: LESSONS FROM MINIDATES STARTUP DEVELOPMENT

Beverly Mayy yLEAN UX, STRATEGY & PRODUCT DEV. CONSULTING

Founder MiniDates, Oxford Technology Ventures, & the User Experience Awards

AGILE 2012 8/16/2012

cautionary inspiration

“We thought we should get ld t j t fa gold star just for

listening to our customerslistening to our customers. Except our customers still didn’t like the product.Except our customers still didn t like the product.

They would look at us and say, ‘Listen, old man, you don’t understand’...”

(Eric Ries, Lean Startup)

© 2012, All Rights Reserved. More Info: MiniDates.com & OxfordTechnologyVentures.com slide 2

(Eric Ries, Lean Startup)

have a “startup”/ new tech project?

DO AS I SAYDO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DID!NOT AS I DID!

I’m abo t to confess to o theI’m about to confess to you the unvarnished truth.


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background

WE BELIEVED WE COULD DO IT• FOUNDER, OXFORD TECHNOLOGY VENTURES

BOUTIQUE UX & PRODUCT STRATEGY

• UX Awards; NYC-CHI

• 16 YRS EXP IN INTERNET/ SOFTWARE

• Helped launch/create 100+ sites & products• startups; agencies; development; every role!

• MBA OXFORD; MS INFO. SYSTEMS NYU


the truth you won’t hear

launching a startup is STILL R ll H dSTILL Really Hard

• RISKS & UNKNOWNS• COMPETITION & SATURATIONCOMPETITION & SATURATION• COSTS & COMPLEXITY• TECH & UX• PEOPLEPEOPLE

It takes extraordinary ff teffort, perseverance,

passion, smarts, luck & a lot of fast learning


a lot of fast learning

top benefits for YOU


Key Takeaway

THE PROCESS (INCLUDING AGILE) DOES *NOT* GUARANTEE SUCCESS!!!DOES *NOT* GUARANTEE SUCCESS!!!

ONLY ACTUAL USER ADOPTION, ENGAGEMENT & SATISFACTION

MATTERS FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS.


outline

a. Agile, UX & Lean 101b. Chutes & Ladders: 15 months of MiniDatesc. It’s Not Over! Where we are nowd. Top 5 Recommendations + Benefits


Agile 101

AGILE. Scrum. Sprints. Test driven development. User Stories. Iterative and

Change driven. Collaborative. Working products > Process.

UX.User centric product development. User Stories. Personas. User testing.

User research (ethnography). Wires & prototypes & flows. ( g p y) p yp

LEAN (STARTUP).S h f i bl b i V lid t d b i d l GOOB MVPSearch for viable business. Validated business model. GOOB. MVP.

Customer Development. Revenue.


Lean = Business Validation

• products customers will use & pay for

• validated learning: build > measure > learn

• UX+AGILE Best Practices for BusinessGOOTB (ETHNOGRAPHY), USER RESEARCH (SURVEYS, INTERVIEWS,

OBSERVATION, FEEDBACK), TESTING, PROTOTYPING & WIREFRAMING,

&PERSONAS & ARCHETYPES, USER STORY & SCENARIO-DRIVEN DEVITERATIVE LEARNING


Chutes & Ladders


chutes: highlights


chutes: UX & product development


chutes: tech decisions


chutes: team & process


chute: USER TESTING!


where we are now

80% Business•Product/ Market fit•Branding/ Message• Cust. Acquisition costsC i i S l bl

20% Tech/ Product•Competition•Market Niche/ Segment•Pricing•CTO, CMO

•Scalable•MVT & A/B - ongoing•Reg. conversion•Usage,

•Partnerships•Feature not Business?•Press/ PR•Social Media

g•Metrics•Social Marketing•(Apps, payments, features)

•Social Media•Evangelism & Visibility•New Investment


It’s Not Over!

ALI G “ICE CREAM GLOVE”http://www youtube com/watch?v 48TR0vUPQCs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48TR0vUPQCs

summary

DID RIGHT HALFWAY LAME•user interviews•GOOB•landing pagei iti l i

•late customer validation•concierge MVP•hiring/ firing/ cofounders$ k ti d

•incomplete wires & specs•project / product mgmt•market validationt h d i i•initial wires

•dev environments•$ marketing vs. dev•tech decisions

•backup, documentation


and now....

TOP 5 RECOMMENDATIONS!

#1. Beware Fads & Advice

“Yours is a death march project.

Y ill l hYou will never launch.” (2 weeks before launch)( )

• AGILE & LEAN PROCESSES• STAFFING• STAFFING• FUNDRAISING• LEAN: SEM & LANDING PAGES

By the time you get advice,it’s too late!


2. UX *IS* essential

NOT JUST DESIGN OR “UI”• clickable prototypesclickable prototypes • experience videos• user stories & flow

d t l iti !• product value proposition!

what matters: business drivers• effective• useful• engagingengaging

Skip UX concepting, wires & planning at your peril


planning at your peril.

3. Understand Technology Choices

• RISKS• COSTS• TIME• EFFORTEFFORT• SCALE• COMPLEXITY

NOT• Products/ Process• Products/ Process• Latest/ Coolest

Evaluate technology based on business & user priorities


gy p

4. Team & Process

VCs: 10 Things That Cause Startups to Fail= Team + team + team...

F F• FIRE FAST• HIRE PRACTICALLY & MINIMALLY

• BE SKEPTICAL & SELECTIVE

• TEAM ALIGNMENT

• TRUST IS #1


the formula for success


5. Test!

Concept > Prototype > MVP > Usage

WHAT MATTERS IS WHAT PEOPLE ULTIMATELY DO.


what will happen

If you skip testing & validation: burn your $$


If you skip testing & validation: burn your $$.

Back to the Key Takeaway

THE PROCESS (INCLUDING AGILE)THE PROCESS (INCLUDING AGILE) DOES *NOT* GUARANTEE SUCCESS!!!

ONLY ACTUAL USER ADOPTION, ENGAGEMENT & SATISFACTIONENGAGEMENT & SATISFACTION

MATTERS.

YOU GET THERE THROUGH “TESTING”


remember

1 i 100 0001 in 100,000It’s DEFINITELY PARTLY LUCK

but being skeptical (testing), optimizing team process (testing), ux best practices (testing), validated learning

(testing), & real feedback (testing) DO help a lot


don’t let this be you.

TIME TO LAUNCH! “It turned out our fears [of shipping a rough product too early]It turned out our fears [of shipping a rough product too early]

were unfounded, because

nobody evennobody even t i d d ttried our product. At first I was relieved because at least nobody was finding out howAt first I was relieved because at least nobody was finding out how

bad the product was, but soon that gave way to serious frustration. After all the hours we had spent...”

(Eric Ries, Lean Startup p. 42)


Closing

EVERYTHINGEVERYTHINGWITH REAL USERSWITH REAL USERSEARLY + OFTEN


EARLY OFTEN

Shameless Plug!

GO TO MINIDATES.COM TO TRY IT FREE!

Lean UX, UX Strategy + Product Dev.

BEVERLY MAY@MINIDATES | @OXFORDTECH

[email protected] | [email protected]


OXFORDTECHNOLOGYVENTURES.COM

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